Stop the XL Keystone Pipeline and Fracking
The powerful oil lobby is trying to force it's agenda on the American people. But the people are fighting back. We won't allow our environment to be destroyed just increase profits for wealthy corporations. Fracking Destroys the Environment * Seismological Society of America: Fracking causes earthquakes * "The oceans are already choked with plastic waste -- and the fracking boom is making it much, much worse." (Source) *"An oil well near Tioga, ND hasn’t stopped leaking oil since local emergency officials were notified of the spill on Friday. But because the well is under a confidentiality agreement that makes some of the well’s information a secret, details such as the spill’s aren’t being released to the public." (May 2014) *"North Dakota recently discovered piles of garbage bags containing radioactive waste dumped by oil drillers in abandoned buildings. Now, the state is trying to catch up to an oil industry that produces an estimated 27 tons of radioactive debris from wells daily." (source) *"Fracking was the “probable” cause of a series of small earthquakes that shook northeast Ohio last month, state officials announced on Friday. This is the first time gas drilling in Ohio and local quakes have been linked. Previous studies have only found connections between the underground injection of fracking wastewater and tremors." (source) *"House Democrats are calling on the EPA to reopen an investigation into whether fracking operations contaminated water in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and Texas." (source) *"The man-made earthquakes that have been shaking up the southern United States only stand to get stronger and more dangerous as the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, increases, scientists warned at a Thursday conference." (May 2014) *"Fracking wastewater contaminated Pennsylvania streambeds, study finds" (October 2013) *Fracking: Boom or Doom. America’s hydraulic fracturing gold rush portends the greatest environmental disaster of a generation. (September 2012) The Fight to Stop Fracking *"Senate Democrats in New York are renewing efforts to protect the state from the byproducts of the fracking boom in Pennsylvania. A new four-bill package would ban the waste from being used to de-ice roads and bar treatment facilities and landfills from accepting waste leftover from the drilling technique." (May 2014) * Thousands Turn Up For California’s Largest-Ever Rally To Ban Fracking (March 2014) And we are Winning *"A north Texas family won a $2.9 million lawsuit against a Plano-based oil company after convincing a jury that emissions from the company’s fracking operations were making them sick." (May 2014) *"Santa Cruz on Tuesday became the first California county to ban fracking, the latest in a string of moves by local governments in the state to take a stand against the controversial oil and gas producing method." (May 2014) * In Landmark Ruling, Jury Says Fracking Company Must Pay $3 Million To Sickened Family The Government Isn't Doing Enough to Prevent Fracking *"A California bill that would have banned fracking while the state studied its risks was narrowly defeated in the state Senate on Thursday, despite polling that showed a majority of California voters favored the legislation. SB 1132, authored by Democratic state senators Holly Mitchell and Mark Leno, failed to pass with a vote of 18-16. In all, seven Democrats prevented the bill from moving forward, with four voting against the bill and three more abstaining from voting." (source) *"A federal report obtained by the Associated Press says the U.S. government hasn’t adequately inspected thousands of possibly high-risk oil and gas wells for water and environmental damage." (source) They Don't Want you to Know What's Involved in Fracking *"...what exactly is involved in the fracking process is often shrouded in mystery as companies are resistant to releasing the exact chemical composition of the mix they inject into the ground along with water and sand to open fissures in the rock and draw out oil or natural gas." (source) *"The North Carolina Senate on Thursday voted to make it a crime to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, even as big U.S. oil companies elsewhere consider releasing more information about the fluids to address public concerns about the environment. The legislation, proposed by three Republican state senators and passed by a vote of 35-12, aims to protect trade secrets about fluids used to extract oil or gas from wells using fracking, which blasts sand, water and chemicals deep beneath the earth’s surface." (source) *The Obama administration announced its first steps on Friday toward possibly tighter regulation of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, seeking public input on whether companies should be required to disclose the contents of fluids used in the oil and natural gas drilling technique.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would gather public comment for 90 days on whether to require chemical manufacturers to disclose the contents of fluids they inject into shale seams to release trapped oil or gas. (May 2014) *"Charged With Illegally Dumping Polluted Fracking Fluid, Exxon Claims ‘No Lasting Environmental Impact’" (September 2013) *"Texas towns run out of water due to fracking" (August 2013) Fracking not an Energy Solution *"The myth of American energy independence from fracking has been dealt a huge blow by the downgrade of recoverable oil from the Monterey shale formation. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has slashed its estimate of oil reserves from the Monterey shale formation by a massive 96%." (source) Category:Environment